What Karl's reading

After three years preparing The Triumph of William McKinley by reading very little but books, letters, articles and newspapers from the Gilded Age, I’m trying to get back into my regular routine, which I’ll chronicle here with an occasional review of what I’ve read.

American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant

By Ronald C. White

Ronald C. White is a fine writer with a penchant for research and a predilection for coming at his subject from a fresh angle. So it is with his spectacular biography of Ulysses S. Grant.

Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill

By Candice Millard

Candice Millard is a fine, fine writer. Her previous books – DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC (President Garfield’s assassination) and THE RIVER OF DOUBT (TR’s post-presidential near-death journey down a tributary of the Amazon) – are both terrific reads.

Whistlestop: My Favorite Stories from Presidential Campaign History

By John Dickerson

Just in time for this year’s wild contest, this longtime Washington journalist who is now moderator of “Face The Nation” on CBS on Sunday mornings has written a breezy volume that veers back and forth through 204 years of races for the White House.